Overweight since childhood,I spent most of my 30's tipping the scales around 250lbs. At age 41 I took charge of feeding myself by preparing all of my own meals, no more fast foods! I created a way to use my love of cooking, food, and eating to permanently lose over 100lbs. During this time I discovered kettlebells and my own style of training The Kettlebell Swing, bringing out my inner athlete and erasing all signs of former lifelong obesity. It's never too late, YOU CAN DO IT!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The smartest thing I ever did when I was 24 was that I met and married the love of my life, my husband of 23 years, Mark Reifkind.

August 5th 1987, my 24th birthday. At this time I worked in a trendy downtown salon as a Manicurist (Youtopia)...I worked late that night and then walked down to a local nightclub/bar called D.B. Coopers with a couple of my girlfriends to celebrate. That's when I first really noticed him....

A few months earlier I had started to workout at nearby Gold's Gym in downtown San Jose before work in the mornings. I used to see Mark and Scott Wilson (professional bodybuilder) training around the same time. Scott would always draw quite a bit of attention as he was Pro Mr America, and this was the 80's afterall....bodybuilding was all the rage. Mark was not only Scott's training partner but his coach....but I didn't know that at the time...nor did I care (OK, I was such a bitch...hey I was 24!). The story continues....

Sometime after 10:00pm, that Wednesday night, Mark got off of his evening hours working behind the desk at Gold's Gym a few blocks away. He decided to stop by to see a friend who worked at D.B.'s as a bouncer, and have a drink. That's when our hearts met....

I can't get into the whole story, but Mark and I danced until the bar closed down, and then we must have talked for over an hour sitting in my 1974 yellow Toyota Celica.

The next day was Thursday and we met for lunch at Togo's....after a long lunch talking, laughing, and flirting, I was seriously late getting back to work for an appt, but something crazy good was happening. I wasn't looking for it, in fact I was trying to resist it....

Friday afternoon Mark calls me to see what I'm doing that evening....I invite him over to my place. He leaves Monday morning....three days later!

Monday afternoon he tells me he'll miss seeing me that evening (afterall we just spent 3 days together), and I said these exact words, "What makes you think you're not coming over tonight?. And he replied in these exact words, "You mean I can come over?" I said yes....

Tuesday afternoon he presents me with a 1/2 carat diamond ring....we were engaged. Less than 1 week after meeting eachother!

I remember we used to tell eachother, "I love you", and the other would say, "No, I really love you!", and the other would say, "NO....I really love you!" This would happen over and over again as we both had no other words to describe the deepest love we had ever felt for another human being. I often used to say, "When I fell in love with Mark I realized I had never before really been in love. "

A little more than 3 months later Mark and I drove to Lake Tahoe CA, and got married in a small chapel named Chapel of the Bells. The only reason why we didn't get married sooner was because all of our friends and family told us we were crazy.....besides, we didn't have a babysitter until Thanksgiving weekend! (My oldest son Richard was 4 years old at the time).

Has it all been a bed of roses? Of course it has! As long as my sweetie is in my bed, life is Rosy! The rest is history....history still in the making because the best is yet to come.

Picture at top was taken at a reception party my mother had for us in January 1988.....and yes, Mark is wearing Z Cavaricci's! The second picture was taken this past September at my grandaughter Sophi's 1st birthday party. The last picture was taken of Mark and I about 10-11 years ago, I was not at my heaviest bodyweight, but I was close....and he was there for all of it. Am I the luckiest girl in the world? Or what?

I won't bore anyone with the details of Saturdays HV Snatch workout, but let me say this....it was brilliant! I say that because the "numbers" fit perfectly into my crazy OCD brain for patterns. It was kind of accidental, but I could not have planned it better if I tried.... All of my workouts are a variation of my methods, so not truly an accident.

880 snatches and 262 swings in about 50 minutes time. This one will definitely be part of my HV Snatch workshop/dvd. To be honest I was surprised that the snatches did not add up to more, but we ran out of time to complete the last part, so I had to re-write the end which left us 80 snatches behind the original 960 snatch routine.

I rotated 6 snatch combination sets, the shortest one was 1 minute, and the longest one, combining the previous 5 sets into one long 7+ minute swing/snatch set. Each rotation had 320 snatches and 60 swings. None of the worksets had more than 30 sec rest period, until the rotation of 6 sets was completed...and at that point we only rested less thatn 2 minutes before repeating the rotation again.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Brrrr! It was freezing cold in the garage gym this morning around 6:30am...and that's why I took a hot bath before my workout.... I thought about bringing the bells inside of the house last night, but I was just too lazy. Of course Mark offered to go out and get them, but I didn't think it would be a big deal.... Man, was I wrong. Those freakin' handles took forever to warm up, freezing my little fingers to the bone first! Too bad I didn't start my workout with a "smoker".....here's video taken Saturday of my little shoulder smoker....

Sabina showed up to swing train, and since she overslept on Tuesday and missed class, I had to take her through a version of what we did a couple of days ago...only new and improved!

I came up with this idea of a little shoulder smoker using a light bell. It's about reps, and little rest. Last week, the first time Meg did this she used the 12kg....seriously impressive! This past Saturday she used the 10kg, and it was still a challenge. I'll stick to my 8kg, it's hard enough, especially at the end of a workout!

PS It's 45 minutes since my workout and my toes are still frozen! Good thing I'll be in Bikrams in about 1 hour!

Monday, November 22, 2010

I've been so busy lately writing recipes and kettlebell workout routines, and I have alot to say about both. But, let me start with recipes....pressure cooker recipes to be exact....

I love my pressure cooker and I've mentioned many times about how it has changed my "cooking life". Little did I know how it would continue to change my life in a much larger way than my own four kitchen walls would contain....more about that soon...

Anyway, I've been cooking away, which is not that unusual, except for the fact that I have to be more precise about the amounts of my ingredients, so I can "officially" start to document more exact "recipes".

Why do I use "quotation marks " when I write "recipe"? Because as any good cook knows, the secret to being a good cook, is to cook, and/or create foods and/or meals, without "recipes". These days I rarely use a recipe....neither does Fawn, I'm sure! Instead relying on the many past experiences, including both triumps and failures....failures to me are only when something cannot be "saved"....in other words, if it is truly inedible, then it has failed....failed as a meal, but not as a lesson! Most of my failures happen when I burn, or overcook something....I tend to be a bit aggressive with the heat, lol!So, this evening I've been hard at work trying out some ideas for recipes, using the pressure cooker, that may be attractive to people with an interest in nutrition...but not necessarily a "diet recipe". Instead something that bumps up the nutrition in an everyday meal, side dish, or dessert....did I say dessert?

On the pressure cooker menu this evening is Carrot, Pineapple and Coconut Rice Pudding, Rosy Red Applesauce (beets are the rosy "red"), and Guava Applesauce (done in a saucepan, without the PC). Here's the thing...if a "recipe" does not turn out quite right, then I know how to fix it 99% of the time....but the average non-cook does not. So, I have to do it over and over until it turns out consistent. That is the job of a cookbook and recipe author. Am I a cookbook, or recipe author? Well, I think I can be. At least I'm going to give it a good go...and what do I have to lose? Cooking and preparing foods is one of my hobbies....so I get to do what I love, regardless if anyone else ever reads about it. How lucky am I?

Bring to high pressure (about 5 minutes), turn down heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. After that point turn heat off and let the pressure come down naturally (another 5 minutes). Open PC, stir to combine ingredients. Does it need a bit more of something? Does it seem a bit dry? Or is it perfect? Add more liquid if needed....milk, cream, butter.....make it your own recipe. Personally, I did not have any extra cream (I needed it for my morning coffee!)...so, 2% milk it was. I needed about another cup of milk, a quick whisk, and it was as perfect as it was going to get! (Mark added butter to his, lol...lucky him!)

One of my accidental discoveries was to use aborio rice for rice puddings....in the PC, of course. Rice pudding, using aborio rice, is like making risotto....10 minutes, and viola... Talk about creamy! But you can control the creaminess, and calorie count, by using water, milk, 1/2 & 1/2, or cream, in addition to the lite coconut milk...or use full fat coconut cream. Fat is not the enemy....the portion and the energy in which you eat your food can be. Anytime coconut milk is used it's a no lose situation! Coconut milk is one of the "cheater" ingredients...like bacon! C'mon...bacon, coconut milk? How can it be bad?

Enough about desserts already! I made a killer pot of smoked turkey, chipotle and split pea soup/with red chard last night in the PC. I found smoked turkey legs at the Mexican market for $.99lb! 2 /12 lbs of smoked protein for $2.50...I had to make split pea soup. The rest of the ingredients cost about $8.00 in total. It took me about 20 minutes prep time and 20 minutes cooking time in the PC.....and I had enough for me, Mark, and my son Gabe, for dinner and about 3 days of lunches! It was so freakin' good that it may be the next "recipe" you read about....

Pictures above: finished rice pudding before I added a touch more cream...therefore adding a touch more "creaminess". Shredded red beets with 8 cups diced fuji apples. My 4 qt pressure cooker ready to go with all of the ingredients for Carrot, Pineapple, Coconut Rice Pudding. Last picture is 1 1/2 c. shredded carrots....I did not use a food processor to shred the carrots on purpose! It takes a bit of muscle to be a good cook sometimes...blogpost to come....

Saturday, November 20, 2010

I love chutneys. Sweet, savory, spicy, sour, salty...what else is there? Meg gave me a ton of guavas from her tree, and I hope there's more to come....chutneys freeze well....(I'll have to start eating some of that tomato soup to make room, lol)

A chutney is from the East Indian word chatni. This spicy condiment contains fruit, vinegar, sugar and spices. It can range in texture from chunky to smooth and in degrees of spiciness from mild to hot. Chutney is a delicious accompaniment to curried dishes. The sweeter chutneys also make interesting bread spreads and are delicious served with cheese.

Fruit, vinegar, sugar and spices.... I've made everything from cherry, mango, pear, cranberry to now, guava chutney. My basic chutney recipe is almost always the same with only the fruit changing places...and maybe the type of vinegar I use. (I sometimes add white wine also)

I haven't made any chutney for quite a while, so in this first batch I put to much vinegar in relation to sugar...the only difference it made was that it was not as firm enough to use as a spread for cheese and crackers. But as a condiment for grilled meats (or maybe some roasted turkey!), it's perfectly fine. I decided to throw a couple of pears into the mix, next time I'll leave them out...I don't think they added much to it. I also only had 1/2 of an onion....considering I had 12-16 cups of fruit, it didn't make the chutney as savory as I like. Jalapeno and red pepper flakes are a must!

Pictures above...cut fruit in half (lengthwise) and scoop out of skin with a spoon, like an avocado or kiwi...hey kiwi chutney, yum! Dice fruit into 1/4 inch chunks, and proceed with cooking. I serve sweeter chutney with slightly stinkier, soft, creamy cheeses...but brie is always a crowd pleaser!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Did I mention that I was shooting a couple of work along videos? I might have dropped a couple of hints.... Yesterday I had the honor of coaching Mark and 5 of my friends through not only a high volume "TracyStyle" kettlebell workout, but a "TracyStyle" 2 hour video taping! More details to come in the next few days, but right now I'm recovering from 2400-2500 swings I did on a day off! But so are they!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

I've changed the name of my Saturday "Max based" workout to simply "High Volume Snatches". I made this change after receiving and email from a visiting RKC requesting to attend my class. Routinely I have inquiries about attending my Intermediate, and Advanced classes without passing go.... "Go" is my Learn to Swing class, and my Beginning classes. No one wants to think that they are a "Beginner".

Well, I've tried to explain, in the description of my classes, that my definition of a "Beginner" describes a persons level of conditioning as it pertains to "high volume kettlebell reps", not necessarily their skill at the swing or snatch. You may have great kettlebell swing, or snatch form and technique, but not be conditioned to train the high rep numbers of the Intermediate and, surely not, the advanced levels my more advanced classes train on a regular basis.

This is the only reason my High Volume Snatch class is by invitation only. This past week I got and email from Andi C, and RKC from NM, who trains with TL Keira Newton, about attending my "Max based" snatch class. The only reason why I let her train with us is that she is RKC, and she has already trained Max Vo2....and after I clearly explained to her the possible snatch rep count....at that point it was her responsiblity.

In this workout the work sets were "off the clock" In other words, once the snatch /transfer ladder sets were complete I only timed the rest periods to 1 minute. In the beginning the 1 minutes rest period were too long, but I anticipated that. I expected the 1 minute rests to start to feel shorter about at the halfway mark. The rest was much more appreciated after the 1 minute "all out" set, but since the longer snatch transfer rep ladders were done at a slower pace, the 1 minute rest periods never seemed to short....at least to me.

At one time during the workout I suggested a 13kg kettlebell! I knew better than to do this with the 14kg...but the 12kg was a bit too easy for me. Make no mistake however...my shins were sweating! But if I can talk, and count reps, etc., thoughout the entire workout, then it's just not hard enough. But we still got in around 940 snatch reps! That's NOT including the swing reps!

Andi seemed to have a good time of it, as did my other 3 training partners. I was also complimented by her interest to attend more of my classes in the future when she is in town. I did ask Andi to post someting about her experience in my class on the DD forum, so I hope she has something nice to say...well, she better have, as my HV Snatch class is "invitation only", lol!

Friday, November 12, 2010

My first DVD, Programming the Kettlebell Swing is now being offered by Dragon Door!

I tried not to obsess about over exercising. My schedule only allowed one Bikram yoga class this morning....I decided to skip my second scheduled yoga class, Vinyasa.

I saw my toes for the very first time in Camel pose....for the very first time! 2 weeks short of a 4 year practice. I sat up after the pose and announced it to the class. (blogpost to follow soon)

I spent 15 full minutes in Savasana (something that I now do on a regular basis). And my last thought before I looked up at the clock was, "My life life so good." I decided to end Savasana on a high note!

I showered at the Studio, and put on my best black clothes, suede pumps, pressed slacks, crisp shirt.....when I got to my destination I left my designer purse in the car.

I attended the funeral of the 26 year old son of a close friend I've had in my life for over 28 years. I was reminded this afternoon, by the priest giving service, of the two very things that have been on my mind lately. How one choses to spend their "time". And not waiting for a "special" day, instead remembering that everyday is special.

I went home, changed my clothes, washed my face....I rarely wear makeup, but then I rarely get an occasion to wear it. Has my life come to the point of only taking the time to look my best when attending church services? Whether it's a funeral or a wedding? A bit of reflection about the whole "make-up" thing....

I weighed myself. 140lbs. 26% bodyfat. (do you know how hard it is to publish these facts?) Not hard at all! I'm a strong, lean, muscularly dense kettlebell athlete. And then I had lunch.

Roasted tomato soup, pork, farro and barley, with a dollop of cottage cheese.....a few prunes for dessert.

I finished my own pedicure, I tanned. (I hate to admit it, but life goes on....my life goes on) I've scheduled to shoot 3 kettlebell videos, "work along with" style, on Monday, and I've got to feel like I look my best....whatever that is for a 47 year old former fat girl....can you believe I'm trying to pull the simpathy card? What's wrong with me?

I've already pre cooked and prepared enough food for the next few days. so cooking was not on the list today.

I played around with some workout routines for all 4 of my kettlebell classes tomorrow morning....lots of swings, lots of snatches....should I try and fit a yoga class in afterwards....that's my compulsive overexerciser tapping me on my shoulder.

My weightloss story has been confirmed as a feature in a major magazine....they want to schedule the official photo shoot!

6 hours ago my friends put their son in the ground.....

Mark just asked me if this chaos is ever going to come to an end. Chaos is relative, he didn't mean it in a bad way. Our "chaos" consists of some high quality problems.

My granddaughter Sophi just made a "butt call" to me....accident? I don't think so. Cristina, her mother, and I planned our next get together, and Thanksgiving plans....and Sophi said "Hi" to me over the phone.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I decided to not do a double Bikram yoga practice this morning...instead? A better use of the extra 90 minutes was to do a bit of food prep, and to do, and put away, all of my laundry, change the litter boxes, etc...basically work around the house. I finally made it to a 9:30am Bikram class, but I got a bunch of stuff done beforehand that made my life so much nicer....

I pressure cooked 1 lb of garbanzo beans to make hummus. I also roasted the last....THE LAST of the tomatoes, with an onion, carrot and celery, for some super yummy soup. I roasted a few jalapeno peppers, for the soup, and the hummus, along with a red bell, on the stovetop (I just have to remember to put my contacts in before I work with jalapenos! I only needed that lesson once!).

So....I found a roasted yellow bell pepper while I was cleaning out my freezer, so I thought, what better place to use it than in my hummus? It will add flavor as well as color.....I love roasted pepper hummus....any kind of peppers. But what I forgot to write on my "to do" list that I needed olive oil! Can't make hummus without olive oil! So it will wait until tomorrow....and so will the picture of the finished product!

I've already got too much prepared food in my fridge, but here's an example of how cheap I can be.... Mark and I live in a part of Dowtown San Jose known as Japantown. We live 1 blk away from the Buddist Temple, and 2 blks away from "Japantown". There's a Japanese Market that has some pretty high quality organic produce (Nikko Market) and they keep two bins that have "seconds", or "expired" produce for a fraction of the original price....I can be so cheap sometimes!

I picked up some Japanese eggplant (the small ones), 8 for $1.10 and threw them in the oven with olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes.....do I ever roast anything without red pepper flakes? No! I haven't decided, yet, how I will use these roasted eggplants, but the possibilities are....a simple spread with roasted garlic for crackers or veg sticks. A pasta sauce. An addition to soup, or a puree. Or, how about scarfing them down, right off the roasting sheet?

Have I ever mentioned that eventually I plan on living, and training abroad? Well, I think I may start with Hungary! I met, but did not get enough time to talk with, a Hungarian jalapeno lover, Aniko Balazsik......

Food is so easy for me. Food is meditation. Roasting peppers. Dicing veggies. Pressure cooking. Grocery shopping. (Mark just tasted the eggplant....he loved it...) I love it all, and it's never any trouble. I love that I know how to feed myself, never having, or wanting to depend on anyone else. Just the vision of nutrition that I create, almost everydday, is enough to fill me with satisfaction. And I'm just a simple home cook.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Lucky me....I teach a, 1 hour, early morning Swing class on Tuesdays, afterwards go for a 30-45 minute walk that lands me at a Peet's coffee, which is 2 blocks away, for a piping hot 1/2 decaf w/cream, and then I make my way back to Girya to train with my LOL....love of my life! Tuesday training with my sweetie.

Mark and I train presses first, and then he helps me with my pull up training (blogpost to come....argh!). He trains handstands, and I'm starting to also, and then we finish off with some Clubbells.

I've been wanting to learn clubbells for a couple of years, since Mark first started training them, and although we only have about 15 minutes at the end of our hour together, I know I'll be able to work up to more time, and more skill soon.

Clubbells are mostly arm and shoulder training. Mark does it for development, and to balance out his KB training. Getting tension with elbows locked , working triceps, upper back and arms, in a completely different way than KB's...but in a way that is complimentary to KB's.....do I need a better reason than that? Training circular motions, and the ease of being able to move in a transverse plain.

You don't really think I've come up with this description, do you? Hell no....this is Mark's explaination! But I ride coattails....lucky me!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Funny that "HV" stands for "high volume", but it also stands for "Hardstyle, Ventura"!

As promised I did another version of my last "100" workout, but harder! Harder because it was longer, the rest periods were shorter AND I did it out in the So. California sun! Whew!

I started my workout with 30 solid minutes of practicing a Beginners Swing Routine that I will be taping next Monday for a follow along DVD to be ready by the end of the year (600 + swings)....so I can't share, yet, the exact workout! But following that workout, here's the new improved "100" HV Snatch workout...same combinations, but the intervals have changed slightly....slight changes can make a big difference.....

each set now increases to four minutes, same combinations, again, only 1 minute rest

1 swing, 1 snatch, 1 transfer (48 snatch/96 swings)

1 snatch, 1 transfer (60 snatch/60 swings)

10/10 x 2 snatch R/L= 80 snatch reps

25 x 2 snatch R/L = 100! snatch reps

20 minutes total 288 snatches, 156 swings

Total time 56 minutes

snatches 730

swings 560

*note

This first set of swing/snatch/transfers were done at a slightly faster pace than on Thursday....slight change, big difference!

Mark and I rolled into Santa Barbara around 7:30pm on Friday to stay with our good friends, Greg and Jen Mishkin.....at this time I opened the trunk and went for the suitcase......whoops! Did someone forget to pack the suitcase? Yep.....wasn't me though....aren't the guys supposed to lift the heavy things?

Thank goodness I always live like a vagabond.....these days a Lululemon vagabond! And with my trusty Gymbag in the back seat, here's what was in it!

3 yoga tops

3 tanks

5 short sleeve t's

2 bra tops

1 yoga pant

2 yoga crops

1 pullover

1 scarf

all color coordinated! Also in the car I had 2 jackets! If I we had been driving my car I would have had enough supplies for a month....just kidding...kinda....lol

Poor Mark, he had the clothes on his back...yikes! Good thing Greg is the same size, so borrowing some shorts and extra T's was not a problem. The first thing I said to Mark, once we realized we had left out suitcase was, "We could not have picked a better trip to forget our suitcase!" And that's the truth. When you are staying with such great friends like the Mishkins, that have all of the comforts of home, then there's nothing to worry about.....besides, Santa Barbara has a Lululemon store!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Mark and I just got home from the Hardstyle Ventura, an annual bodyweight exercise workshop held in Southern CA, lead by Pavel, but with guest lectures given by other Master and Senior RKC's, including Mark. I'm too tired to get into the details today, but hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to write down some of the highlights of this quick two day trip.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

I'm going down south to Hardstyle Ventura with Mark this weekend, but before I leave I had to write a couple of routines for my "subs" so they can lead my Beginning Swing classes on Saturday, in addition I had to design and train my Max based class snatch training!

I liked this high volume snatch workout so much that I may repeat a version of it this weekend on the beach in Ventura (making it a bit harder, of course!). It is a version of one of my "100" workouts. (100 refers to progressing up to a 100 snatch rep set, swing rep set, or both! ). Here it is,

each set now increases to five minutes, same combinations, but with 2 minutes rest (except the last set of faster paced snatches which only lasted for 4 minutes....because 4 x 25 = 100, and that was the goal!)

1 swing, 1 snatch, 1 transfer (55, 110 swings)

1 snatch, 1 transfer (80 snatch, 80 swings)

10/10 x 5 santch R/L = 100 snatch reps

25 x 4 snatch R/L = 100 snatch reps (4 minutes)

27 minutes total 335 snatches, 190 swings

Total workout 47 minutes 551 snatches, 304 swings

I thought about leaving the last set at 5 minutes, but there were OCD pros and cons.... the "con" was that it wouldn't equal 100! The pros would be that it would equal a 5 min set, like the others, and it would increase the snatch rep count (576 total snatches)....but do what you want.

It may seem a bit slow in the beginning, but the last 27 minutes is tough....so chose your bell weight wisely.

I finished my workout with 15 minutes of double clean/presses and my, soon to be famous, "shoulder smoker"! (details to come soon!)

As I mentioned earlier in this blogpost, I'll be doing my own workout on Sat. in Ventura, and it looks as if I'll have at least one person joining me for a swing class/workout during lunch! Any other takers? All are welcome, just BYOB....bring your own bells!

PS Mark and I will be staying our friends, Greg and Jen Mishkin....Jen is my west coast BFF! I've got a big batch of Sloppy Joe sauce in the freezer I'm tempted to pack for dinner tomorrow night so she doesn't have to cook!

About Me

I'm currently having the time of my life living and writing about food, diet, training and exercise. I'm happy, confident and strong. I'm proud of my 25 year marriage, my husband, my two boys, and myself!
I don't know quite what the future holds for me, but I'm all about making my life easier, not harder....I'm done with doing things the hard way!